Pope Leo XIV delivered his third blistering condemnation of President Donald Trump’s military assault on Iran in less than a week, warning Tuesday that the spiraling violence threatens to create “an irreparable abyss” between nations as civilian casualties mount and U.S. service members come home in flag-draped coffins.
Speaking from Villa Barberini in Castel Gandolfo on Tuesday, March 3, the 70-year-old Chicago-born pontiff didn’t mince words about Operation Epic Fury, the massive air and ground campaign Trump launched against Iran on February 28 without Congressional approval. The attack has already killed six American service members, devastated an elementary school full of young girls in the southern city of Minab, and pushed the Middle East to the brink of all-out war.
“Stability and peace are not built with mutual threats, nor with weapons, which sow destruction, pain, and death, but only through a reasonable, authentic, and responsible dialogue,” Pope Leo XIV said in remarks that marked his strongest rebuke yet of the Trump administration’s Iran strategy.
The Pope’s criticism stands in stark contrast to Trump’s bombastic defense of the operation. From Mar-a-Lago, the President declared the attacks would “continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary” and would hit Iran “with a force that has never been seen before.”
The death toll tells a grim story. Iranian authorities report more than 800 people have been killed since Trump ordered the strikes, including approximately 165 schoolgirls and staff who died when an elementary school was hit in Minab. In Tehran alone, 60 attacks rained down in just 24 hours, leaving 57 people dead according to the Tehran Province Red Crescent Society. Two people were killed in Tel Aviv when Iranian missiles struck a residential building, and 120 more were injured across Israel.
The assault succeeded in killing Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 Iranian commanders, including Abdolrahim Mousavi, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called the operation “an open war against Muslims” and vowed revenge.
Pope Leo XIV has now spoken against the war three separate times since the bombs started falling Saturday. During his Sunday Angelus prayer on March 1, he told thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square that he was “following with deep concern what is happening in the Middle East and Iran in these dramatic hours.” He issued a fresh appeal Tuesday, urging world leaders to “truly seek to promote dialogue” and “find solutions, without weapons, to resolve problems.”
Christopher Hale, a former Obama staffer who runs the publication “Letters from Leo,” reported that sources near the Pope described the Iran operation as “immoral, illegal, and a grave threat to the entire human family.” The Vatican previously declined Trump’s invitation for Pope Leo to join what the President called his “Board of Peace.”
The pontiff has emerged as one of Trump’s most prominent critics since the President’s inauguration on January 20, 2025. Pope Leo condemned Trump’s January capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and has repeatedly slammed the administration’s treatment of detained migrants. He’s skipping the United States entirely during his international travels this year.
Iran’s retaliatory strikes have spread violence across the Gulf region, hitting U.S. military bases in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. Explosions rocked Dubai as missiles streaked across the sky. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Khamenei’s killing “murder” and a “cynical violation of all norms of human morality.”
Trump remained defiant on Truth Social, warning Iran on March 1: “THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!” He acknowledged American casualties might continue, telling The New York Times “that often happens in war” but insisting “we’re doing this not for now, we’re doing this for the future and it is a noble mission.”
The Pope offered a different vision in his Lenten message ahead of the conflict, urging people to “cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities.” He called on the faithful to ensure “words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace.”
As Wednesday dawned in the Middle East, both sides showed no signs of backing down. Tehran has been transformed into a war zone, while Israeli cities remain on high alert for incoming missiles. The elementary school attack, which killed approximately 165 girls and staff, has become a rallying cry for critics who question whether Operation Epic Fury’s strategic gains justify the mounting human cost.
Pope Leo XIV closed his Tuesday remarks with a simple plea that now seems impossibly distant from the reality on the ground: “May diplomacy regain its proper role, and may the well-being of peoples, who yearn for peaceful existence founded on justice, be upheld. And let us continue to pray for peace.”
The bombs, however, continue to fall.
